"Tell him I'm going to (expletive) kill him," Joseph told a police operator in the phone call, which was played during his bench trial today.

When the operator responded that the call was being audio-recorded, Joseph replied: "That's fine. Tell the mother (expletive) he's a dead man, OK?"

Joseph was playing poker at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem when he made the call. He told the police operator where he was calling from, was subsequently arrested and has been incarcerated ever since.

During testimony today, Joseph said he only made the threat because he knew it would lead to an investigation and publicly expose the truth about the microwaves.

"I know you guys are laughing at me, but this is what you have to do in the year 2013 to get anything done about it," he said.

No sign of the 'FBI cowards'

Joseph said he has repeatedly heard voices in his head over the past few years, including one that warned, "The FBI is going to kill you," and another that claimed his car was about to explode.

During testimony, Joseph read several pages of his own hand-written notes about accounts of alleged brainwashing in the past, including once that he became so convinced his apartment was wire-tapped that he looked for FBI agents with a gun.

"I went outside with a .357, but the FBI cowards were nowhere to be found," he read. He also claimed the gun was later taken from his apartment.

Joseph said he previously attempted to draw attention to the conspiracy by threatening other people on Facebook, including Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin and President Barack Obama.

He has also called various offices and emailed embassies around world, including Pakistan and Russia. The Pakistan embassy responded, but only with a smiley face, he said.

His defense attorney, Matthew Potts, did not argue Joseph's claims were true, but argued he should not be convicted of terroristic threats because he did not intend to actually hurt Casciano.

"Whatever anybody may think of what Mr. Joseph thinks is going on, his intention was simply to draw attention to what he thought needed to be heard," Potts said.

But Steinberg said even if Joseph did not intend to hurt the trooper, he still intended to inflict psychological stress.

The judge spoke sympathetically to Joseph but said if he was really concerned about brainwashing, he should have found a way to report it without threatening anybody.

"I would say five years ago, nobody would think the NSA was trying to listen to our phone conversations," Steinberg said. "And five years ago, if somebody tried to explain that, they would have sounded much like how you do today."

Insanity defense not pursued

Joseph could face up to five years in prison for the terroristic threats charge and up to one year for harassment. He will be sentenced Jan. 14.

Potts said Joseph has not been evaluated for any mental illnesses. But Joseph claims to take Seraquil, a medication used to treat schizophrenia, and said he was hospitalized for 21 days in 2010 after reporting hearing voices in his head.

Potts said he did not consider an insanity defense because such defenses are for clients who cannot understand his actions or tell right from wrong.

"Him believing what the rest of us don't believe doesn't make (him) insane," Potts said. "It's like if somebody says they were framed by the cops. They could be wrong, but are they insane?"

Casciano and Joseph had been family friends for about 30 years, but their friendship ended about six years ago when Joseph started sending him negative text messages, the trooper testified. He did not elaborate.

"I immediately went home to check on my family" after learning about the threat, Casciano said. "I was concerned for my safety and my family's safety."

Joseph leaned his head back and scoffed audibly upon hearing that. Later, he said he never threatened Casciano's family members, and that Casciano only said that to make him sound crazy and discredit him.

"That's just a thing like: 'We're going to make you sound like a madman coming out to kill your family,'" Joseph said.